


Drink Like a Fish

by mathPocalypse



Series: Military AU [6]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Navy, Asian-American Character, Attempt at Humor, Drinking & Talking, Fighter Pilots, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Japanese-American Character, Post-War, Satire, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29102619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mathPocalypse/pseuds/mathPocalypse
Summary: When the war is finally over, Mina, Sana and Momo are enjoying a couple drinks at the base's Officer's Club.It takes place ~2 weeks after "Snippets of Shipboard Life, Part 2".
Relationships: Hirai Momo & Minatozaki Sana & Myoui Mina
Series: Military AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021653





	Drink Like a Fish

**Author's Note:**

> This work is fictional. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental (and unfortunate).
> 
> This work is anything but a literacy masterpiece, and I must apologize in advance for my poor writing and grammatical mistakes I might made.

10:30pm, Japan Standard Time 

Officer’s Club, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni

If anyone asks Lieutenant Myoui Mina* to summarize the entire Operation Downfall, she would tell them the whole operation, from its beginning to conclusion, is  _ surreal _ : after two weeks of continuous airstrikes, Kim IV immediately called Donald Trump and called for both sides to cease fire, which Trump agreed. Kim IV then immediately executed a couple generals and ministers for “misled the Supreme Leader for their personal gains, and brought unmeasurable amount of destruction the DPRK” (or as Momo puts it, she’s just throwing them under the bus to save face); much to everyone’s surprise, Kim IV also announced that she would open up North Korea for foreign investments, as well as introduce more political and market reforms. She’s no screenwriter or novelist, but Mina would _never_ dare to come up with something as insane as this - even back at the days when she was a teenager writing K-pop fanfics. 

With all of that being settled and they are back to their home base, the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (originally the Ronald Reagan was going to have a port visit at Busan, but the Commander of the Carrier Strike Group Five overturned this idea, much to the frustration of the crew), Mina and her comrades are taking their opportunity to drink like a fish at the bar of the Officer’s Club, after spending six months onboard the Ronald Reagan and not able to drink any alcoholic drinks, as per the Navy regulations.** 

“I once read from somewhere that fighting a war is a lot like visiting France - you only need to do that once in your entire life, and that’s enough. Right now I can confirm that it is one-hundred percent correct.” Lieutenant Minatozaki Sana reflects upon her brief-yet-eventful combat experience, then takes a shot of Sake. Before being deployed to the Korea Peninsula, she always dreamed about participating in combat and becoming a combat veteran, but after spending two weeks at the front lines and being constantly shot at, she finds the whole concept of being a combat veteran is  _ completely overrated _ : it’s exhausting, it’s dangerous, and it’s  _ nowhere _ as glamorous as the media portrays it.   


“Oh come on Satang, stop making a fuss about that. True, you and Minari are constantly being shot at, but you two are also getting huge medals like the Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals in return. That’s a pretty good bargain.” Finishing her shot of Sake, Lieutenant Hirai Momo retorts the EWO while pointing at her ribbon bar, “For Supply Corps officers like me, all I got is a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal - a medal that almost everyone has one.” Being the military equivalent of Grade inflation in schools, Medal inflation is a problem that plagued the US Military for decades: contrary to all logic and reason, nowadays a service member is pretty much guaranteed to receive a couple medals by the end of your tour  _ as long as you reach a certain rank and don’t screw things up spectacularly _ . The end result is a lot of medals mean very little to the recipients - if anything, Momo’s Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal only indicates that she isn’t a complete idiot, rather than she actually did something commendable. 

“Believe it or not Momoring, I and Satang would gladly take your Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and Supply Corps post in exchange for being in relative safety onboard the Ronald Reagan. It’s not Ace Combat - you don’t get to respawn after someone killed you.” Lieutenant Myoui says as she grabs the bottle of Sake, and pours another shot. Like her EWO, she also finds the concept of being a combat veteran to be overrated. 

Lieutenant Hirai remains unconvinced that her situation is better than her comrades, “I know, I know, but I always feel like I didn’t contribute much to the war effort, unlike you folks.” 

Mina pats on Momo’s shoulder to cheer the Supply Corps officer up, “Guess what Momoring, you contributed a lot, and those who suggest otherwise can all go fuck themselves. We can’t fight the damn war without the Supply Corps, you know - _and isn’t that your fourth bloody shot Satang?_ ”

“Nah, it’s just my third.” A half-drunk Lieutenant Minatozaki tries to reassure her pilot as she pours her third shot, “And I’m still sober Minari.”

“I certainly hope so, because this time I’m not going to stop you if you’re trying to hug and kiss a senior officer, and I won’t shed a tear if you get court-martialed for that.” For all these years, Sana has to be  _ the _ worst drinker Mina even knew - although a lot of people will have a completely different personality after a couple drinks, Sana must be the one who has worst case of it: she always end up flirting with everyone within a three feet radius, regardless of gender and rank. Half a year ago at the Officer’s Club, she tried to hug and kiss the squadron’s  _ executive officer _ , a full Commander, after taking five shots of Sake; lucky to her and the Commander, Mina jumped in and pulled Sana away on time. (Mina genuinely wonders what would happen if her EWO is not a member of the Minatozaki family.)

“And I will call your bluff. You and I both know you  _ won’t _ do that to your best friend, right Minari?” After finishing her shot, Sana teases her pilot back.

“Well then, Lieutenant Minatozaki.” Mina winks at her EWO, “If you think I’m bluffing, you can always go ahead and try.”

* * *

  
  


* Her promotion to full Lieutenant is scheduled way in advance, and is not related to Operation Downfall  _ at all _ . (The same also applies to Sana and Momo.) She tries her best to explain that to her mom and dad, but they still think her promotion is a reward for her front line service.

** As an exception, when a ship is at sea for 45 continuous days and has more than 5 days left before coming into port, the captain can ask the Numbered Fleet Commander to do a beer day; this time the captain of the Ronald Reagan refused to make the request - even after the conclusion of Operation Downfall - on the grounds that they were going back to Japan anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I had plans to write a couple more short stories about MiSana being instructors at a training squadron after their first tour, which takes places ~2 years after this story. However, right now I honestly have zero confidence that I can pull that off without shooting myself in the foot again, so I decided to end this series this right now.
> 
> There is a question that stuck in my mind for years: is it a good idea to write military-themed fanfics about k-pop girl groups? And whole series is meant to an experiment to find out what the answer would be. The answer is clear - it's not necessary a good idea to do so, because the genre is too niche, and it's very difficult to write a military-themed fanfic well.
> 
> Finally, I want to take this moment to thank all those who read, left a kudo, and commented on my stories.


End file.
